Apr 12, 2007News: Riga City Council Acted Illegally in Banning Gay March
By vanrozenheim
(Riga, Latvia) - The Regional Administrative Court ruled this afternoon that the decision by the Riga City Council to ban last year's Gay Pride March was illegal - and overturned a lower court decision - leaving Mozaika, the alliance of LGBT and their friends, "gratified". Mozaika, the march coordinators, had notified the City of the planned march, but were told by the authorities that it could not go ahead "on safety reasons". The District Administrative Court subsequently upheld the city council's decision.
"The court ruling on today shows that freedom of speech and freedom of assembly do exist in Latvia and that the right of the LGBT community to organize a march has been evaluated as having more importance than the desire of some other people to push a certain community out of the public arena by means of threats and violence," said Kristine Garina, chairperson of Mozaika.
"This decision is in line with the European practice of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia," she added.
The Riga City Council was not able to prove to the court that it had evaluated the proportionality between the act of banning the march and the state resources that would have been necessary to ensure the safety of participants.
In its decision, the Court commented on the City Council’s infringement on the rights of the LGBT community by not suggesting an alternative route for the march and by not adequately evaluating the threat posed to the marchers and the resources necessary for neutralizing the threat.
After the ruling was announced, Mozaika said it had not reached a decision on whether to seek compensation from the Riga City Council to cover loses incurred.
If such a decision is made, Mozaika would only ask for money to cover administrative and legal expenditures, it was emphasised.
